


Hardships

by orphan_account



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 20:36:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21082718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He was waiting to wake up at any second and find this was all a dream, which would absolutely crush him. But it was not a dream. This was his reality. He truly could not have been any happier.





	Hardships

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who’s back. Yeah, me and with another RoyEd story. Yayy me. 
> 
> So, I may have written this for Roy/Ed-tober. I used the prompt ’starlight’ for this but stupid me used ’moonlight’ instead (that is Marin’s sick brain talking) I’m sorry, I know we’re nearing the end of October. I did intend to get this up sooner but I got busy (when I say busy, I mean that I got sick and neglected to finish it sooner. Also forgive me because I’m still sick now)
> 
> Loved writing the bit with them in the beginning, I gotta say.

This feels like a dream. Ed is waiting to wake up at any second and find this was all a dream. But it is not a dream. This is his reality and he could not be any happier. 

“Wow,” is the only thing Roy says as he looks into the room. Ed could not seem to get a read on Roy’s face. He could not tell if his husband is happy or if he is angry. He can only hope that is a good ‘wow’ instead of a bad one. 

“You like it?” Ed asks as he approaches his husband nervously.

“Like it?” Roy questions yet again and he looks around the room one last time before bringing his attention back to Ed. “I love it!” 

“Really?” He asks with a smile so big, it threatens to tear off his entire face.

“Yes!” Roy nods before he reaches out to pull his husband towards him. “It looks amazing, Ed. You did such a great job, I’m impressed.” That only makes the blonde happier as his husband’s hands find the small of his back.

They share a brief yet passionate kiss before Roy pulls away to rest his forehead against his husband’s. “I love you.” 

Ed smiled, breathing heavily as he closes his eyes. “I love you too.” 

That, in turn, makes Roy smile as well as he leans in to press his lips to his husband’s forehead. Ed’s nose scrunches up at the affection, not that he minds it of course. Roy then turns Ed around so his back is pressed flush to his husband’s body. He feels Roy’s strong arms fold around his shoulders and across his chest. Ed instantly relaxes in Roy’s arms and places his hands on Roy’s forearms. 

He just loves it whenever Roy holds him like this. There is just no better feeling in the world.

It is just after nine-thirty in the morning. The day has only just begun for the couple and Ed has decided to show Roy the final product of their very first child’s nursery. Ed spent days creating this nursery. He put a lot of effort into it and he is extremely happy with how it came out. He desperately hoped Roy loved it as much as he does and it is nice to know that he does.

“Seriously though,” Roy says, resting his head against Ed’s. “You did a great job with the nursery. I wish I had done more to help you.” 

Ed shakes his head. “You did help though, Roy.” 

“No, I didn’t. All I did was paint the room.” He tells Ed, “the rest is all you, babe. You picked out of the furniture and the crib as well. You spent weeks preparing this room and getting it ready for the baby. Your hard work has really paid off, Ed. This room looks great. You did a fantastic job.”

That makes the blonde smile at the praise as he continues to stroke Roy’s forearms with his hands. ”Thanks.”

They both continue to look around the nursery and neither of them could not stop smiling. The room is all white, white walls and white carpet, with a wooden crib painted white against the wall next to the window. A rocking chair is next to the crib for when the baby wakes up in the middle of the night. The sheets in the crib are white as well. Ed had hung up several photographs on the walls and a life-sized Teddy bear on the opposite side of the room that they would be using to measure the child’s growth once a month. 

He still could not believe this is actually happening. Please don’t ever wake me up from this dream. Ever.

In just a couple of days, he and Roy would be bringing home a baby. A baby that has Roy’s genes. After several years of trying, they finally found someone who was willing to have a baby for them. He would be lying if he said it was all easy. It wasn’t. Far from it actually. It was extremely hard on both of them. They tried everything from adoption to surrogacy. They even considered bringing in a child in the foster care system. Nothing ever seemed to work out in their favor and they both began to doubt the possibility of them ever getting a child.

When Ed thought they finally had a chance of getting a child, the universe just had to say otherwise and instead gave them one of the hardest obstacles they would have to overcome. But that is something he refuses to even talk about that because all it does is bring up some painful memories for him. 

Needless to say, it has been an extremely tough journey to get to where they are today and Ed would be lying if he said there were not a lot of tears shed, there were. But what he can tell you is that he would not have had it any other way.

“Can you believe this?” Roy questions his husband so Ed turns his head to look at the older man. “After everything that’s happened, we’re finally getting a child.” 

”Yeah.” Ed could feel Roy’s steady breathing against his back and smiles, feeling Roy’s arms tighten around him. ”It’s unreal, isn’t it?”

Roy nodded. “I know it hasn’t always been easy for us but I truly thought things were looking up for us when Kaitlyn came into our lives.” Ed stiffens in Roy’s arms at the mention of that name. He closes his eyes and sighs, trying his hardest not to let some tears fall. What she did still hurts, even after all that time has passed. “I’m sorry, I should not have brought that up. I know how hard that was on you.”

Ed shakes his head, keeping his eyes glued to the nursery. “No, it’s okay.” 

”I do think that strengthened our relationship.” Roy tells him and kisses the top of Ed’s head. 

The blond simply nods his head. ”Yeah, me too.” 

While he hates to admit it, Roy is right. If not for that, who knows where he would be now. Who knows if he would even still be married to Roy now. He would never admit it out loud, especially to Roy, but he is grateful for that experience every day.

He is also very lucky Roy stayed by his side after all that. Any other person would have gone running for the hills. 

”I love you.” Roy tells him and kisses the junction of his neck and shoulder. “Words cannot explain just how much you mean to me. You are the best thing in my life and I can’t wait until our child is here.” 

Ed smiles for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning and glances over at Roy’s. “I love you too.” 

* * *

Seven years have passed since the Promised Day and a lot has changed for the Elric Brothers.

After the promised day, both of the Elric brothers went back to Resembool. Ed was finally free from the military. Ed got his arm back during the final fight with Father but he is going to be stuck with his automail leg for the rest of his life. To others, it might seem like a curse but he was happy with it. It served as a reminder so that he would not be so caught up in the past and look ahead towards his future.

Upon returning to Resembool, Ed and Winry began to date. Ed had known Winry was in love with him and he thought he felt the same way about her. He did not. The relationship they had was short, only lasted for a couple of months and the breakup was a mutual decision. Neither Ed nor Winry held any sort of grudge towards each other. It was neither of their fault that the relationship between them did not work out. They are childhood friends after all and neither of them wanted their friendship. 

Winry made the extremely tough decision to sell the house in Resembool following the death of Pinako and moved to Rush Valley permanently to work on her automail. Along the way, she even ended up in a relationship with Paninya. After two years of dating, they announced their engagement and married a year later.

Al ended up moving to Xing so he could study Alkahestry with Mei. Of course, it was tough for Ed to see his brother move to a foreign country but he completely understood it. Ed knew Al was head over heels in love with Mei and she felt the same way about him. Ed still remembered the phone call he got from Al, saying that he was thinking of proposing to Mei. He did and she happily accepted. The two were married for a couple of years before Mei learned that she was pregnant with their first child and both were extremely overjoyed. Ed was also overjoyed when he learned he was going to become an uncle.

Ed, having lost the ability to use alchemy, retired from the military and after his brief relationship with Winry, he moved to Central when he got a job at a research lab. It took him a while to realize the reason his relationship with Winry did not work out was that he was gay. He had known about it for years but never realized it. Shortly after, Ed came out to his former comrades and they all accepted him with open arms. Roy, who is also gay, decided to ask Edward out on a date and he accepted. Two years later, they bought a house together and decided to move in together.

About six months after, Roy proposed to Ed and he still remembered that day vividly. 

It was the date of their third anniversary and Al and Mei were in town so the timing could not have been more perfect. Roy really wanted to make the date extra special for Ed so he decided to recreate their first date. He brought Ed to the same restaurant they went on their first date, a Cretan restaurant that overlooks the water. Roy really wanted Al to be there when he asked Ed so he chose to do it after dinner. 

On the beach was a photo-taking spot overlooking the beach that is guarded by a fence with the water in the background. Roy deemed that to be the perfect place to ask the important question.

_Ed stepped up to the overpass, looking right at the water. ”Ed?”_

_ Upon hearing his name, Ed turned around. ”Yeah.” _

_ Roy took a deep breath, reaching down to grab both of Ed’s hands. “I’m so sorry, I wanted to make this extra special for you.” _

_ Ed looked at him confused. “What do you mean?” _

_ “I had this speech planned out and everything but..” he paused, looking right into Ed’s eyes, “seeing you here in the starlight with the moon reflecting off the water. It made me forget everything I was going to say. You are just so breathtakingly beautiful and I thank God every day for you. I love you so much.” _

_ Hearing those words come out of Roy’s mouth made Ed look at Roy in surprise, almost as if he had already started to piece it all together. “What are you doing?” Roy let go of one of Ed’s hands and took a small jewelry case out of his suit. “Roy, are you serious?” His eyes were as wide as saucers and he gasped as soon as he saw the case, covering his mouth with his hand as Roy dropped down to one knee right in front of him. “Oh my gosh!” Ed shouted as he briefly looked at Al and Mei. _

_ Sure enough, everyone who was around stopped to watch. “Will you marry me?” The raven finally managed to get out. _

_ Ed could feel his voice escaping him. With a quiet, ”fuck you,” to Roy that only the man across from him could hear, he nodded his head. He could see the excitement on Roy’s face, so happy as though he had to double-check that he heard that correctly. Once again, Ed nodded and though his tears, he mutters a, “yes,” to the other man. _

_ Roy got to his feet to hug his now-fiancee as the spectators began to cheer for the couple. Roy took the ring out of the case and lifted Ed’s hand to slide it onto his fourth finger before looking at him. Ed could not keep the smile off of his face. He was ecstatic to be engaged to this man. _

About two years after that, they finally got married. The ceremony was wonderful, Ed had the time of his life. 

Not too long after the wedding, they started talking about having children. This was when all the hardships began for them. They tried for so long. Most adoption agencies were hesitant to give them a child due to their sexuality. 

Ed was beginning to doubt whether it would ever happen or not.

That was when he met a seventeen year old girl, who was pregnant. Her name was Kaitlyn. She claimed to have nowhere to go. He met her one day while he was working in a bookstore. The baby’s father wanted nothing to do with her and she had been kicked out of her own house by her parents when she told them about her pregnancy. Ed asked her about what she planned to do with the baby after giving birth. She told him she did not know and was thinking about adoption. She wanted to go back to school and concentrate on her studies. Ed did not hesitate to step up. He personally paid for an apartment for her so she would not be sleeping on the street and accompanied to every single one of her appointments. He had grown very close to her. 

Roy was not happy to learn that Ed had done all of this behind his back but agreed to help out. 

When she was eight months pregnant, Roy and Ed gave her a huge check. Ed told her it was so she could go back to school and continue on with her life. No amount of money would ever be able to thank her for his daughter, who he had opted to name Nina after Nina Tucker. 

Two weeks before she was due, she disappeared. She did not show up for any of her appointments and her apartment was empty. Ed looked everywhere he could think of and he could not find her at a single spot, she was gone. She left no note and he had no way of contacting her either. He was devastated and took it very hard. 

Roy could not let it go. Ed had found out his husband had been investigating her after she disappeared and what he discovered was devastating. Ed also remembered that so well.

_ Ed was distraught and extremely heartbroken. He looked like he was about to break down and he could not even begin to tell you how he was feeling. He had so many questions running through his head and they were all directed at one person. Someone who was not there and someone who he may never see again in his life. _

_ “She never intended to give us the baby?” His voice was low but loud enough to be heart. He looked up at Roy with pleading eyes, as if he was begging his husband to tell him this was not happening. _

_ Roy nodded and Ed could feel his heart breaking. “No.” _

_ “What?” That was literally all Ed could get out his mouth without breaking down. _

_ Roy grabbed his husband’s hand when the younger male looked down at the floor. “I can tell you we’re not the only ones. I met with five other couples and they all told me the same thing.” _

_ “What was that?” Ed asked and picked up his to make eye contact with his husband. _

_ Roy took a deep breath. “She promised to give them the baby after she had given birth.” _

_ That was extremely tough for Ed to hear. “But why?” He asked, his eyes filling up with tears. “Why would she do this to us?” _

It turned out it had all been planned. Kaitlyn was deceiving so many other couples by promising to give them her baby after she had given birth. She used the exact same sob story she used on Edward for sympathy and none of it was true. The father of the baby was not some deadbeat dad, he did not even know about her pregnancy. Her parents also never kicked her out of their house upon learning of her pregnancy. 

It was all a ploy to get money from couples who were unable to have children. Her and her mother planned this. She never intended to give the baby to any of them. She was a scammer and Edward fell right into her hands.

That broke Ed. He had already felt extremely guilty by bringing her into their lives and he did so much for her. He cried himself to sleep that night in his husband’s arms.

Ed never thought Roy would actually want to stay with him after that. He thought for sure Roy would have wanted to move on but he stayed with Ed. He still remembered Roy’s words to him that night. 

_ Roy was kneeling in front of the couch, holding up Ed’s left hand. The blonde looked down at his own hand to see the ring Roy put on him at their wedding. “When we got married, I promised to love and cherish you in sickness and in health. I intend to keep that promise until the day I die.” He told Ed, his thumb stroking the back of Ed’s hand. _

_ “But-” Ed started to say but Roy never gave him the chance to. _

_ “I love you, Ed. There is nothing that will ever make me leave you. Ever.” He told up as he brought their entangled hands up to kiss on Ed’s knuckles. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise you that. We’ll get through this. Together.” _

It was those words that comforted the blonde, probably more than Roy would ever realize. 

To say Ed had it rough would an understatement. After everything he had been put through, he still could not believe things had turned around for him. He could also tell you he would not have it any other way. Sure he may have had gotten his heart broken a few times but it also helped change him and turn him into a much stronger person.

He was happy with how his life turned out. The whole thing with Kaitlyn strengthened his relationship with Roy and made it a lot stronger. 

There was one thing Ed was sure of. As long as he had Roy Mustang by his side, he did not need anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you all hate Kaitlyn as much as I did? She was evil, truly evil.
> 
> I do remember seeing this episode of Law & Order (can’t remember if it was SVU or if it the of one) and there was a woman, who got pregnant and was using her baby as a method to get money out of couples who were unable to have children of their own so that is what inspired Kaitlyn. 
> 
> Anyways, until next time. Marin out!


End file.
